Acoustic Treatments
About Studio Foam:
Proper room treatment is one of the most important things you can do to take control over the sound of your studio and especially your mixing space. When you first set up a room for tracking or mixing, unless you’re extraordinarily lucky, it may not sound very good. It may sound boxy, or ring at some frequencies. It may have too much bass, or not enough. Things may just sound ‘wrong’ without being able to put a finger on exactly what that ‘wrong’ is. Sound treatments will help you reduce or eliminate all those issues.
There are a wide variety of studio treatment products—panels, bass traps, wedges, diffusers—in a variety of shapes, sizes, textures, and densities, all of which are intended to control some aspect of the room's sound. While we don't have space here to do even a basic "Acoustics 101" breakdown, we do want to mention the difference between sound treatment and soundproofing. The acoustic foam products we sell are designed to control reflections and frequency response within a room, not soundproof it (prevent sound from escaping). True soundproofing requires specialized construction methods and materials. If your neighbors are complaining about sound levels, none of these products are going to help solve that particular problem.
Acoustic foam products are designed to diffuse sound waves to avoid hot spots and nulls. Doing this can widen the listening "sweet spot." Acoustic products are also used to control reflections that can cause ringing, flutter echos, low frequency standing waves and smearing of the stereo image. Bass traps usually go in corners to reduce the possibility of standing waves, and diffusors and absorption panels are placed on the walls to help control mid- and high-frequency reflections. Every room is different, and unless you're fortunate enough to be able to have an acoustic expert design it from scratch, you'll need to spend some time consulting with one of our audio pros to figure out the best way to approach optimizing your room. In addition to the individual pieces, we've got kits that have been designed to handle the most common issues easily and affordably.